Former Manchester United player, David Beckham has narrated the true story of how his former boss Sir Alex Ferguson kicked a boot to his face.
The Herald understands that Sir Alex Ferguson kicked a boot at David Beckham after he told him to “fuck off” following Manchester United’s 2-0 FA Cup defeat against Arsenal in February 2003. Edu and Sylvain Wiltord scored for the Gunners either side of half-time to leave United and Ferguson furious.
Beckham recalled seeing his ‘fuming’ boss and revealed he had sworn at him further enraging him on top of the result after his manager criticised him for failing to follow his runner in the build-up to a goal.
Ferguson then launched a boot at Beckham, with the midfielder later seen sporting an eye injury in training.
Speaking on the incident, Beckham said, “That was blown up out of all proportion. I’d made a couple of mistakes during the game and he came into the dressing room and a few harsh words were exchanged.
“He started to walk over to me and he kicked out at a pile of clothes on the floor. Out came this boot and then I quickly realised how accurate his kick had been as it struck me on the head, but there weren’t any hard feelings.
The time Sir Alex Ferguson kicked a football boot at David Beckham’s head… 😂
pic.twitter.com/YplNTD7q5b
— Alex Turk (@AlexCTurk) October 4, 2023
“It was a complete freak accident. As far as we were concerned. it was forgotten straight away within the club, but the incident made the papers which meant that people started to speculate about our relationship. But as far as the boss and I were concerned it was over, done and dusted.”
Ahead of the release of the Netflix documentary BECKHAM, the 48-year-old looked back on the good and not-so-enjoyable moments during his life and career. The ex-England international was one of the most talented footballers of his generation and retired in 2003 after over 750 career appearances.
However, despite winning several major honours and scoring more than 100 goals Beckham did have some high-profile moments of controversy in his career, with none higher than his red card against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup.
“Wherever I went, I got abused every single day,” Beckham added. “To walk down the street and to see people look at you in a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things that they said. That’s difficult. I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping. I was a mess. I didn’t know what to do.”